Lavrov: NATO Expansion Has Continued Uninterrupted Despite All Assurances
According to the English section of webangah News Agency, citing Mehr News Agency and TASS, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that NATO’s expansion has continued relentlessly despite assurances made during the Soviet period.
Speaking at the Eurasian Security International Conference in Minsk, Belarus, Lavrov said: “Despite promises made to Soviet leaders that NATO would not advance even an inch eastward into Europe, its expansion has never paused.”
He added: “Moreover, this ongoing enlargement blatantly disregards high-level commitments from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which emphasize that security must not be strengthened at the expense of others or pursued through regional or global domination.”
The senior Russian diplomat emphasized that Russia now observes most NATO and EU countries refusing to accept that Western dominance has ended and a new historical era is beginning.
“This basic difference separates them from Russia, our partners in the Commonwealth of Independent States, China, India, Iran, North Korea, and othre Eurasian countries,” he said. “Thay believe stability and prosperity on our continent depend on firm respect for sovereign equality principles and security integrity for all-not just a privileged few who place themselves above law and ethics.”
Lavrov further noted: “The systematic weakening and eventual abandonment of international arms control agreements in recent years is not Russia’s or our allies’ fault.”
